


Avengers Angel

by tkbenjamin



Series: Of Adepts, Legions and Shields [2]
Category: MCU
Genre: M/M, Multi, NC17, Sentinel Fusion, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 14:39:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18527095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tkbenjamin/pseuds/tkbenjamin
Summary: Death wasn’t done playing with Phil. Now gifts come.





	Avengers Angel

Death wasn’t done playing with Phil’s life. Now it’s giving him everything he could ever need or want. 

Warnings: canon level violence and torture 

Sentinel/MCU fusion 

 

 

Phillip J. Coulson had come online back in his Ranger days. A mid range Guide, just like his father and happy about it. A Guide in the mid ranges hardly had any real need for a Sentinel. That's not to say that one would be sneezed at if one came along that Phil actually wanted, but none had back then so Phil had moved on with his life. Along came Nick Fury and SHIELD. He met and teamed up with Hawkeye and the Black Widow and all was good. Billionaire Tony Stark got kidnapped then found. Iron Man became a household name and it was all still pretty damned good. 

Then Norwegian, no no no Asgardian Gods fell to Earth, they took Hawkeye away from them and Phil lost everything, that was not good. Tahiti however completely fried Phil’s everything. Tahiti happened and when Phillip J. Coulson woke up he knew. He was different. He figured death will do that to you if it did nothing else. Mid range and happy about it Guide Phillip Coulson was no more. Instead High Level Guide Phillip Coulson was there. 

Phil knew his abilities had increased, even without testing. He woke up and knew every little lie told to him, about him, or in his presence. Knew the state of heart, mind and soul of everyone he came into contact with. With surgical precision he swept through anyone he wanted to and read everything about them. But he kept it all to himself. He had full control of himself and his shields. He didn't feel another's emotions strongly unless he wanted to. He was fine and he was happy about that too.

As soon as he was fit for duty, Nick had bundled him into a Shield field office and in charge of a new team. He read his team, strength and weaknesses, past, desires, everything. Nothing was kept from him so their betrayals, while painful, weren't completely unexpected. Not that he forgave Ward or his handlers for anything they did. He was however glad that he could put himself between his people and danger whenever possible.

Now he sat on the plane, behind May and listened as Skye chatted non stop about something or other. The sound of her voice, usually soothing and interesting, right now he found intrusive. It was like he was trying to listen for something but he did not know what. Finally he sighed and held up a hand. He got immediate quiet. Looking over at her he saw her mouth hanging open, mid word. He grinned and used an index finger to close it for her. Then he closed his eyes and let instinct take over. Soon his mind was ranging out. He felt like he was flying, clouds flashing past him as he sped towards something, ears straining to hear whatever was calling to him.

His body understood he was still in his plane, still seated behind May as she flew them to their current destination, but his mind felt outside of his body, veering off the coarse May was following. He let his mind go. Let it run free. Let it show him everything. 

He was over a desert, then over a mountain range, woods and bushland whizzed under and past him. Then a city. An old one. Buildings made of stone and brick. Canals over there and cobbled streets over here. Then he heard what he'd been searching for. What he'd just barely heard or felt a whisper of before. A grunting and screaming. A voice swearing and cursing even while it screamed in pain and tossed out bad jokes. He followed that voice, into a building, up a flight of stairs, then three more. Top floor he swept through an open door and there it all made sense.

“Skye, I need a topographical map of Rome, now. May patch into HQ and find out what's happened to Hawkeye,” he snapped. They didn't respond. They didn't have to. They just did it.

He tuned out as May began the process of making contact, he'd tune back in later, and went back to the little room he'd just been in. A small room. Bare walls and floor. Old sandstone building, probably a house at some point, now a derelict. There were three men in the room. Two standing. One seated in a chair. He was tied up. Blindfolded and bleeding. His dark blonde hair bloody and matted. Face bruised. Lip split. Body tied to a chair by a rope that snaked round him, from ankle to shoulders. He couldn't move. Couldn't fight. Could just sit there, scream and endure as the other two beat on him incessantly using fists and rubber bats.

“May!” Phil snapped, voice demanding an answer.

“Hawkeye disappeared mid mission two days ago. They lost him somewhere in Italy,” she answered.

Phil opened his eyes and grabbed the laptop Skye held. He squinted at the aerial map showing the topography of Rome. Using his fingers he swiped at the screen, enlarging here, shrinking there moving it left, up, down, right then zooming in as much as he could on one particular building. He tapped the building lightly. “Here, he's here. Skye, get May the coordinates. May as soon as you get them, get us there. Break any and all rules that get in your way. I don't care about anything else. Hawkeye is there, now get me to him.” 

He stood and left his seat, not waiting for either woman to say a word, or acknowledge his orders. He stalked into the back of the plane. “We have a rescue mission. Prep medical. Full extent of injuries are unknown. Unknown hostiles. Unknown numbers. They have one of mine. I want him back,” he ordered, his pace never slowing as he walked through and into the back to his own quarters. He'd heard shuffling behind him and a few aborted questions but ignored it all. All he could concentrate on was not falling apart. That call, that panicked mental screaming he'd heard, still could hear was going to drive him insane. Something had happened to Clint. Something bad and he had to get there to find him. Help him. Stop his pain. Stop his mental screams. Phil couldn't understand it. Just knew he had to get there.

“Coulson, we're ready,” came a voice over the comms unit a while later. They'd already been in Europe, so it hadn't taken May more than a few hours, but Phil was frazzled and trying desperately not to show it. He had to keep it together. He ran his fingers through his short hair and scrubbed at his scalp and face. He stood from his bunk and tugged at his black fatigues. He stretched his neck and rotated his shoulders. Then he strode out, calm as fuck, through his doorway to meet his team. He could feel his life was about to change yet again and as always he looked it full in the face and dared it to fuck him up. 

*****

He took point, his gold patterned black jaguar stalking ahead of him, tail lashing left to right in fury. Phil’s gaze would flit up to the sky to see a hawk circling a building, occasionally dive bombing a window then screeching and flying up again. “May, that’s our objective,” he told his Second, chin angling up to fourth floor window. “Fourth floor, Second from the right.” He could see May giving him the side eye, but she didn’t say anything, just nodded and followed orders. 

They’d left Skye and his other two geeks back in the plane. Only May accompanied him. The two of them would be easier to blend in than a whole group. Dressed in solid black, they drew a little attention on the street, but not enough to warrant worry. He stopped at the stone steps and steeled himself. His jaguar shimmered through the solid door. Phil linked his sight to hers and could see two men. They were armed and guarded the stairway. 

“Two men, either side of the stairs, one o’clock,” he said quietly. 

May sighed and slumped. “We have so much to talk about,” she grumbled. Then she held out her arm. “Nahala, go.” Phil watched her, then he blinked slowly then nod. 

“Didn’t believe me?” He asked with a grin. 

“Mid range Guides aren’t supposed to be able to do that,” she said flatly. 

“Correct. And back in the day I couldn’t. Then Tahiti came along and broke some sort of barrier in me and here we are. Not so mid range anymore,” he said shrugging, eyeing the door in front of them and flexing his fingers. 

“So when they tested you recently, what? You faked it?”

The grin he gave her was perfectly feral. She matched it with one of her own. “Pity you’re not my Guide. We could have had some real fun,” she said, stretching out her shoulders. “How do you want to handle this?”

“Fast and quiet. The old fashioned way. I think I’m gonna need everything else for him,” he finished quietly, gaze glancing up. 

She nodded and started a three count. She kicked the door in on three and Phil had shot both guards before they’d even turned their heads. 

Phil walked straight past them. Trusting May to protect his rear. He followed his jaguar, Kimba, as she stalked up the stairs. Letting himself see through her eyes. May’s cobra, Nahala at his right. Linking their eyesight to their spirit animals gave them a split second warning of anything ahead of them. It was a technique SHIELD had developed after Dr Sandburg’s theories and teaching and it worked. In theory all Sentinels and Guides could link senses with their Spirit Animals. In practice it took a fairly High Level Sentinel or Guide to be able to control and cope with it. To be able to control and function with the dual input. He couldn’t have done it as a mid range, but he’d found it almost instinctual once his strength had increased. So he was prepared when Kimba saw the man down the hallway. Well saw the top of his shoe actually. 

Phil saw it too and was more than ready when the man stepped around the corner. Another clean head shot and Phil and May kept moving. “Leave me some,” The Sentinel griped at him, making him grin again. 

“Thanks May,” he whispered. 

“For what?” She questioned as they made their way slowly to the door Kimba paced in front of in agitation. 

“Keeping this light. Keeping me from losing it,” he replied. “This has the real option of becoming a major cluster fuck. Thanks for keeping me calm.”

“You can do the same for me when I need it,”she replied. “So he’s really yours huh?”

“Yep. Mine. How the hell am I going to handle this May? As far as he’s concerned I’m still dead. Not to mention his wife and kids?”

“Hawkeyes married? And I could kill Fury for keeping you hidden.”

“Married. Two great kids. I’m so screwed. I can’t. I won’t pull him away from Laura. She’s great people May,” Phil huffed and stopped by the door. Kimba made way as he and May flanked it. 

“You’ll do what you have to,” she replied and with a gesture of her hand Nahala shimmered through the door. 

He was about to send Kimba through too when she held up a hand to stop him.  
“Two men. Torturers. No guards. You don’t want this in your mind. Go on three. Eleven and one o’clock. In front of the window. One. Two. Three.” She kicked in the door and Phil swept in shooting first and asking questions never. 

He didn’t even register the two men as they fell. Barely even paid any notice as May told him she was going to sweep the building. She could hear other heartbeats she was going to track down. His eyes were all for the man in the chair. Tied and stripped to the waist. Somehow still wearing cut off SHIELD issue pants and boots but not much else. 

Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, Avenger. Master Sniper, Master Bowman, spy, hitman, assassin. Good guy, laugh riot, tease and God knew what else, God, not Asgardian Gods thank you, sat in that damned chair. A rope around his torso kept him ramrod straight and tied to a ladder backed wooden chair. His legs tied from knee to ankle to the chair legs. His mouth open in a silent scream. Eyes wide open. Pupils blown wide. He hadn’t noticed their arrival. Hadn’t noticed their approach. He was in a complete zone out. 

A hawk shimmered through the window and came to settle on Kimba’s back. Kimba looked back and chuffed at it. It fluffed it’s wings and trilled. Phil blinked at them then took a step towards Clint. He stepped in front of the other man and waved a hand in front of his face. “Hawkeye. Hawkeye. Come on buddy. We can’t stay here. Come on,” Phil cajoled. He got no reaction. 

He pulled a knife from his boot and knelt down. He started a soft mumble of nonsense as he quickly cut through the ropes tying Hawkeyes legs to the chair. Then he sliced through the rope around his torso, careful not to cut Clint himself. Once done he sheathed his knife but stayed kneeling in front of the zoned out Sentinel. 

“Well isn’t this just peachy?” He grumbled. “You get kidnaped and come online. You literally pull me here to you from somewhere over Russia. Your hawk practically gives himself? herself? a hernia, if spirit animals can get a hernia, swooping for all it’s worth around this building and at that window so I’d be able to find you. May now knows I’m not a mid range Guide anymore, because there’s no way a mid range could have done half the shit I just did just to get to you. And here you are sitting on your ass, comfortable as you please and zoned like a motherfucker. What the hell am I supposed to do with that? Huh?” Phil sighed and dropped his head to Clint’s thigh. “Come on buddy. I need you to come back to me. Back to Laura. Back to your kids. Come on,” Phill whispered, not knowing what to do now. 

He blew out a breath and rubbed his face roughly against the thigh he leaned on. Wincing when he realised he’d probably rubbed his beard stubble into Clint’s skin and made to get up. He’d carry the other man out if he had to. He felt a feather light touch on his head. Then the touch got more certain and fingers wove into the short strands. 

“Well if you’re here I must be dead,” a soft voice said. Breaking around the words. 

“You’re not dead,” Phil whispered back. 

“Have to be. You are.”

“Nope. Accounts of my death and exaggerations and all that,” Phil said quietly looking up. What he saw made his heart break. Clint Barton looked wrecked. Beyond the cuts and bruises. Beyond the subsiding fear and pain, the man looked emotionally broken and bleeding. He let his hands fall to Phil’s collar then bunched his fingers into it and slipped forward. Landing in his knees with a thud and falling into Phil’s arms. His body shuddering with the strength of his tears. 

Phil held on. Letting calm radiate out of his very pores. Not knowing exactly what to do nor how to do it. Just letting instinct reign. Eventually Clint sniffed loudly and rubbed his face into Phil’s jacket clad chest. “Fucking Fury,” he groaned. 

“Yeah,” Phil agreed with a wry chuckle. 

“Fuck you too,” Clint whispered, now tucking his face into Phil’s neck. 

“Yeah,” Phil agreed sadly. 

“Shoulda told me,” Clint mumbled almost trying to squirm himself into Phil’s lap. 

“I know.”

“Nick threatened you, didn’t he?”

“You know Nick. Always knows best,” Phil sighed. 

“Hm,” Clint scoffed. “I only got one thing to say to that. Fuck Nick Fury and the goddamned horse he rode in on,” Clint muttered. Then took a shuddering breath. “What’s happening to me?”

“You came online,” Phil told him. “You were tested as Latent remember?”

Clint nodded. “But they told me I’d go Dormant because of my hearing,” he said confused. 

“Yeah well, what do they know. All I know is that we were high in the sky and suddenly I could feel you. Feel your pain. Feel you calling me. So here I am. Now we’d better try to get out of here. May’s going to get back to us any minute. Can you stand do you think?”

Phil felt Clint breathe deeply for a few seconds. He waited for the other man to give him a sign. When he felt Clint tense his muscles he started to stand, slowly helping the man still in his arms up to his feet. Clint leaned heavily on him but stood up. 

“I must look a real mess,” he said, voice showing a touch of humour. 

“Well, lets just say, it’s a good thing I’m wearing black. It hides all the blood you’re getting on me,” Phil said, taking a small step towards the doorway, testing if Clint could still walk. 

Clint snorted but took step after step, leaning on Phil as they went. “So, you mentioned a plane?”

“Aha.”

“Where’d you land it?” He asked. 

“A rooftop a few streets out.”

“We gonna walk?”

“Unless you've got any better ideas,” Phil replied with a snort and a sigh.

“No chance of us going undetected,” Clint said voice flat. “I'm too much of a mess, not to mention practically naked.”

Phil shrugged, making a face. He knew Clint was right, but couldn't see a way around it yet.

There was movement at the door and Phil quickly had his weapon up and ready. He breathed again when May walked in. Something over her shoulder.

She gave them both the once over then a ‘really Phil?’ look crossed her face. He shrugged his eyebrows and lowered his weapon again.

“Here, you're gonna need these,” she said handing the fabric over. Phil took it and shook it out. Sweat pants, jacket and baseball cap. He grinned and helped Clint back into the chair. 

“You can always rely on the Cavalry,” Clint grinned at her as he said it.

She pursed her lips. “I’d smack you if you weren't hurt already. Instead I'll smack Phil.”

Before Phil could say anything she'd smacked the back of his head. He looked up wide eyed from where he was trying to get Clint's legs into the sweat pants.

“Pass it on when he's better,” she shrugged at him then turned back to guard the door.

Phil turned his gaze back on Clint who was smiling at him sheepishly. “Oops?” the injured man tried.

Phil snorted. “You'll keep,” he told him and went back to concentrating on getting the newly emerged Sentinel dressed.

Once dressed Clint stood up gingerly, Phil hovering over him. “My things, they tossed them into that closet,” he said pointing to a door. Phil crossed to it and looked in. There on the floor was Hawkeye's field bag, his quiver and collapsible recurve bow. He stooped and picked them all up. He returned to Clint who was making grabby hands at his bag.

May chuckled at him from her place by the door. “First time I've seen you go for your bag before checking out your gear.”

He'd quickly opened up a concealed pocket and pulled something out of it. He looked at the packets he pulled out carefully, then sniffed them. Without hesitation he ripped one open and upended it into his mouth. Phil almost swallowed his own tongue trying to call out a warning to stop him.

Clint swallowed then grimaced. “God those things taste horrible.”

“What the fuck did you just do?” Phil growled at him.

“Energy gells, I going to need a few of them if I’m going to walk to your ride” he said matter of factly.

“They could have been tampered with. They could be poisoned,” Phil kept growling.

Clint tossed one to May. “You check it. I couldn't find any other scents newer than mine. I couldn't see any tampering marks either.”

She looked closely, then sniffed carefully. “Nothing. But I can't go as deep as I'd like without zoning. How are your levels? Does it feel like you're in danger of zone out?” She said as she tossed the little packet back.

Clint caught it casually and tore it open. He swallowed down the contents before answering. “I'm exhausted, but my levels are fine. I don't really feel any different. My senses are better though, a lot better. I still don't get how this happened. I was always told I would go Dormant.”

“We'll figure it out later. Come on finish your gells so we can get out of here,” Phil told him.

Clint swallowed down the last gel and stood. He wavered then stood strong. He started to stoop to get his gear before Phil pushed his hands out of the way and quickly grabbed everything, tossing it onto his shoulder. 

“May, you got point. Hawkeye, in the middle. I'll bring up the rear. Oh, the spotted black jaguar beside you is Kimba. May's black mamba is Nahala. What's your hawk's name?”

Clint turned his gaze to the animals around them. His face softened at the hawk perched on the Jaguar's back, preening between her ears. “Her name is Sunny apparently. Huh, hi Sunny,” they all smiled as she screeched a greeting and fluffed her wings.

“Okay, let's move out,” Phil said, voice urgent. He wanted Clint out of there and he wanted it now.  
*****  
The walk back to the plane was fast and uneventful. Phil ushered Clint up the ramp and into the med bay. He took Simmons by the shoulders and steered her in front of the archer. “He's bleeding from multiple lacerations along his face and chest. He's been electrocuted multiple times. Multiple contusions from fists and such. Don't believe him when he says his ribs are okay, they're not. I don't think he's got a concussion, but I'm not sure. He's dehydrated and needs solid food. He made it back here after consuming multiple energy gells and that's it,” Phil told her quickly.

She blinked at him, giving him a slightly confused side smile. “Thank you Dr, Coulson, I shall see to our patient now shall I?” She chuckled at his blank expression and turned to face Clint Barton full on. She tutted and slipped on a pair of gloves before starting her examination. 

Phil perched himself on an examination bench and looked at May. He patted himself down and soon found a paper and pen. He wrote something on it, then called her to him and handed it over. “Take us to these coordinates,” he said, then returned his gaze to doctor and patient.

Clint was asleep sitting up by the time Simmons had finished with him. He had tiny suture strips on the cuts on his face and chest. None of the cuts had been deep enough to need stitches, just cleaning thoroughly and then the application of the tiny strips. Simmons had bound his chest, his ribs were indeed bruised but the damage again had not been severe. The electrocutions had left red burn marks on his skin. 

“All in all he's not too badly off. They hadn't had time to do any major damage to him, not yet any way. They were probably waiting until he was more dehydrated and exhausted before the real torture would have started. The were slowly softening him up I'd say. Wearing him done slowly and carefully so as not to break him. Maybe even bring on a type of Stockholm's Syndrome. A little bit of physical torture coupled with physiological torment and reprogramming. If it was HYDRA, we've been hearing rumours of this type of subversion therapy. Do you know who it was that had him?”

Phil nodded slowly and let his mind drift over the recollections he'd stored away of the men in the building. He'd infiltrated their minds as soon as he'd set eyes on them, then shoved the knowledge of them into a file cabinet in his brain. Now he poked that mental drawer open and rifled through. He nodded. “Hydra, yes. They know he was influenced by Loki and were trying to do the same thing. Bring him to them,” he said, voice far away. Then he blinked himself back and his mouth set. “How does HYDRA know about Clint and Loki? That was beyond classified information, beyond even need to know.”

Simmons bit her lip slowly. “It seems we might have a problem,” she said quietly.

“Yes it does. Keep it quiet please. I have things to sort out first before, I can’t tackle that problem yet,” he told her, moving himself off the bench he'd co opted for the past couple of hours and landing on his feet. He walked to Clint and woke him slowly, pouring soothing safety all over the Sentinel. The sleeping man woke just enough to open his eyes. 

“Come on Clint, I'll put you in my bed for a while.”

Clint nodded and stood, letting Phil support him as he lead him off. 

Soon Phil had him tucked up in bed. Blankets covering him to his chin. He slowly pushed some stray hair off the Archer’s forehead and couldn't stop from dropping a small kiss there, then he walked out of his quarters and went to find May.

“How long before we reach those coordinates?” he asked by way of greeting her.

She flicked her gaze to him before returning it to her task. “I can get you twenty four hours, without anyone asking questions. If you send Fury a Do Not Disturb maybe longer.” She replied. “How's Hawkeye?”

“Sleeping.” He took in a breath. “Take us the long way May. Keep us off as many radars as possible. Take your time, I don’t want Laura seeing him until he’s semi normal at least. Have you told anyone we have him?”

“No, but something stinks about this,” she said, mouth twisting like she tasted something bad.

“I know. Those guys were HYDRA. They knew about Loki. I don't like any of this, May. Keep us in radio silence for now. Fury won't make contact unless he has to. I'll send my DND code to him in a minute. We work outside of normal SHIELD purview, so he should leave us alone for a while at least until I make contact with him. I need to think about all this. And I have to figure out what to do about my very married Sentinel.”

May huffed a chuckle. “Better you than me boss.”

He smiled slightly then leaned over to the console and tapped in a message, a code he had worked out years ago with Nick Fury, boss and friend. They'd both used that message for when they needed to go dark for any reason. Occasionally it paid off having a history of Special Ops with your broody boss.

Phil stood from the console, turned, mouth quirked in a wry smile and left the cockpit. He went to the galley and made up half a dozen mixed sandwiches for his Sentinel, and put them in an insulated box, along with a couple of bottles of fruit juice. Then he made up a few more for his people. His admittedly small crew would have to be told about everything now. Maybe telling them while their mouths were full would keep the questions to a minimum.

He detoured back to his own quarters and checked on Clint. The man was still sleeping soundly. He put the insulated box of food and drink on the bedside and left the room silently.

He went into the break room of the plane and put the tray of sandwiches on the table. “All right children, gather round. I have a story to tell.”

*****

Phil sat by Hawkeye’s bed. Had actually been sitting there for a few hours now. His elbows were resting on his knees while his chin perched on his steepled finger tips. His mind kept chasing itself in circles. Like a dog chasing its own tail. A low buzz of a headache behind his eyes letting him know he was thinking too much and going nowhere fast. He sighed and threw himself back into his chair. 

“Staring at someone while they sleep is all sorts of creepy,” Clint said, voice dry and husky with sleep.

Phil puffed out a breath, then a small chuckle. “Sit up a little, if you do you can have some water,” he finally said. He watched as Clint opened his eyes, then slowly sat up in his bed. Scooting back until his back rested comfortably against the headboard. 

“Don't spill,” Phil warned as he handed the archer a glass of water. 

Clint flipped him the finger but did as ordered. “How long this time?” he asked. 

“About six hours. You woke up a while ago. Ate some sandwiches and had some juice. You were more asleep than awake then fell right back to sleep. We’re about an hour from the farm. I was going to wake you in a few minutes. We have some things to discuss,” Phil said seriously. 

Clint snorted. “Ya think?” Then he set his glass down and pointed to the danish pastry behind Phil. “Pass it over,” he demanded. 

Phil shook his head grinning. Clint had always had a sweet tooth. He took up the plate from the shelf and gamely passed it into the grabby hands attached to the man on the bed.

Clint had a mouthful of apricot danish before Phil could even blink. “Dmph edkhgybb nuhvgjsn nsbeidbttt,” Clint said.

“What?” Phil asked.

Clint swallowed hard and took a sip of water. “I said, don't expect me to forgive you or Fury any time soon for any of this shit. You were alive and we didn't know about it. That really sucks. You both really suck. What the hell Phil? I thought you trusted me?”

“I did, I do. At first it was touch and go. Then my memory was Swiss cheese. It took a long time for me to be me again. And I wasn't the old me. I'm different now. I'm not the Phil Coulson you knew. I'm sorry Clint. I can't excuse not telling you. I can only promise not to hide from you again. No matter what. If that's what you want anyway. If not, then I'll drop you off at the farm and you can contact SHIELD to let them know you're safe. Tell Nick I came for you and took you home. You won't ever see me again if that's what you want,” Phil told him, wringing his hands. He didn't want to let Clint walk away from him. Neither man nor Guide wanted that. The man wanted his friend back. The Guide wanted his Sentinel. But this wasn't just his decision to make. It affected others too and he would have to abide by their needs and wants as well as his own. His own were probably way down on the list here.

Clint snorted once then punched Phil in the arm hard enough to sway him in his chair. “Asshole,” Clint muttered. “When you found me, how was I?” he asked.

“Zoned. When May and I came into the room you were in a Zone out. Tied and zoned actually,” Phil replied.

“And what made you think I was zoned?” Clint asked.

“Well, you were staring into nothing. You were unresponsive. You didn't acknowledge what was happening around you,” Phil told him confused.

“Right, right. I can understand why you thought I was zoned. But I really wasn't. Yes, I was not completely there, but neither was I in a zone. What I actually was doing was searching. I was searching for a missing piece,” he huffed and took another drink. Then he swung his legs off the bed and pulled at the blanket until he had it wrapped around his shoulders. He put the glass on the shelf by the bed, and eyed Phil for a second before wrapping his fingers around the legs of Phil's chair and pulling. Then he put his head into Phil's lap and wrapped his arms around other man's waist.

Phil started in surprise for a second, then let his hands fall to Clint's head. He carded his fingers through the short mess slowly and deliberately.

“I don't know how long they had me for. They literally shot a net at me when I was staking out a suspected arms dealer. I thought I'd been made by the guy and his goons, but I never saw them make a move against me. Anyway I was on a rooftop one second and caught in a net and tranqued the next. I woke up tied to that God damned chair in that room some time later, still drowsy. They didn't even asked me any questions at that point. Just started with the electroshock. Kept it up for hours. Eventually I realised when they were hurting me there were images being flashed on the wall in front of me. Images of SHIELD and the Avengers. When they would stop the torture then I'd see images of HYDRA and Red Skull. The images were short, sharp. I was debating if I was seeing them or not. Was I only imagining them? That's when I figured it was all subliminal conditioning. I was tranqued, tied, tortured and being subliminally influenced to find SHIELD bad and HYDRA good. 

“Something else was happening to me. The images were moving too fast for me to be able to see them like I was. I realised I could taste the very air around me. Taste it and scent it. The dust and stone around me. The smell of my captors. Their sweat and stress. It was all there for me. My skin was so sensitive that I could feel individual fibers in the rope they used. I could hear. I mean it Phil, hear. I mean,” he looked up and moved his head now and set his chin on Phil’s thigh. “After Loki, I haven't exactly been the same. My hearing. He changed me. Loki changed me. I guess he needed someone without any defects so he fixed my hearing.” Clint rubbed his cheek on Phil’s thigh and set his head down in Phil’s lap again. “Only Laura and the kids know that I can hear like a normal person, could hear like a normal person, a mundane. I never did tell SHIELD about it. I know they'd just test, test, and test me again if I told them about it. It was hard enough to get my so called colleagues to accept me back after the possession clusterfuck. So I just didn't mention it and since they rarely check my hearing at physicals, well it never came up.

“So okay, back to what happened, right.” Clint took a steadying breath and started again. “Yes, I, I could hear and not just what was happening around me, but in the building and even on the street. And I gotta tell you,” Clint looked up again, this time grinning. “That had to be one of the quietest streets ever, not more than a couple hundred folks walked down there in all the time I was there. And according to my count I must have been there for at least a couple of days. So I sort of pushed my hearing out as much as I felt safe doing and realized I was in Italy. And I did not know there were any quiet streets in Rome.” He put his head back down and went on speaking softly.

“That's when I cottoned on to what was happening to me. I realized I was coming online. The Latent, Dormant Sentinel I'd been diagnosed as, as a kid, was not so Dormant ir Latent anymore. I was coming online fast and steady. I was expecting agony, but it was sort of smooth and easy. It was just happening. The only pain I was experiencing was from the guys who had me. Then I remembered that a Sentinel can dail everything up and down, so I dialed down touch and ignored them. But I knew I was in trouble. I could ignore everything but I couldn't get myself out of it. They had me tied and someone was always with me, not to mention the guards I could hear in the building. So I figured I was screwed. And I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure that every so often they would drug me because I'd sort of wake up every now and then.

“So I eventually pulled into myself but threw out my mind, hoping I could connect with someone that could help me. I'm not sure how I did it or if I really did. I know I was screaming for help in my mind, but I don't really know what I did. I just did it. Then you and May were there. And now here I am. And I get myself into a whole new set of problems I did so not expect. So tell me what you’ve come up with bossman, because I sure as hell ain't letting you go now you're here and alive,” Clint said as he tightened the arms still around Phil.

Phil closed his eyes and tried to center his mind, feeling his shields tremble as they tried to wrap themselves around the man he knew was his Sentinel. He pulled them back ruthlessly. He was not about to bond himself accidentally. Especially to a man he considered a friend. Maybe, had circumstances been different even more than a friend. Phil sighed and in a fit of pique tightened his fingers in Clint's hair. His eyes sprang open when he heard and felt the rumble as Clint groaned, then push himself into Phil’s hand.

“You've always been stability for me. I've always felt safe with Laura, but you've always been my stable footing. No matter where I was, standing on the ground or on something somewhere in the air, it didn't matter, I always felt you gave me stable footing. I haven't had that, Phil, not truly, not since you died. It's sort of been there, a niggle in the back of my mind, but it wasn't something I could actually have access to, not until you walked into that room. I don't understand any of it, do you?” Clint asked.

Phil groaned and in a fit he pushed Clint off him, then kept pushing and pulling until he had the Sentinel kneeling on the ground. Then he slipped to his knees in front of him. He wrapped his hands in Clint’s hair and pulled their foreheads together. “Clint, Clint, Clint. I think we're pretty much screwed. I have absolutely no idea what we're going to do about any of this. Yes, the Guide in me knows absolutely and positively with every fibre of me that you are my Sentinel. I know this. Loki changed you, TAHITI changed me. A lot of paths have converged to bring us here. But I have no idea why, nor what to do about it. But I do know that we will work it out. We're almost at the farm. This isn't, shouldn't and can't be a decision we can make alone. We have Laura and the kids to consider.”

Clint nodded, his hands were clenched in Phil's shirt. “Yes Sir. I'm not sure how I'm going to explain this to Laura. To Laura and the kids. Any of it. They all think, know, you're dead. This is going to throw them for a loop. I guess the kids could just, forget, that Uncle Phil was gone for a while, and now he's back,” Clint said, his voice making it obvious he was saying it like he was trying to convince himself of it.

Phil huffed. “Yeah, sure. And we’ll just change your name to Black Canary shall we?”

“I think I could pull off the leotard, don’t you? I’m sure I’ve got the legs for it,” Clint grinned finally. A spark of his humour surfacing. 

Phil barked a sharp laugh. “Aha. Okay.” Then he put some distance between them and helped Clint back up to sit on the bed. He made to return to his chair but Clint pulled him down next to him. Ensuring they touched from shoulder down to foot. 

“I’m sorry, but I just really want the contact. Doesn’t feel like I need it. No danger of zoning but I really want it. Can’t really explain why,” the Archer sighed and finally shrugged. 

“Probably because I’m your Guide and at a primal level you understand we should stay close,” Phil said. 

Clint nodded the sucked in another breath. “Phil, did my whole kidnapping seem strange to you? What has SHIELD said about it? Did they send you after me?” Clint asked.

Phil had been wondering when this would crop up. “SHIELD hasn’t said a word about any of it. It’s like they’re practicing a radio silence about it. First thing I knew about your disappearance was when I heard you calling me. I had May tap into Comms to get information about you and found out they’d lost contact with you. So yes I agree. There is something very wrong with this whole situation.”

“What’s SOP Phil for when an Asset is MIA?” Clint asked. Already knowing the answer. 

“Scramble a team for recovery. Even if it’s kept quiet, May and I both have the clearance to find it on the channels.” Phil answered. 

“And?”

Phil sighed. “And, we both looked. No one was out looking for you. They knew they’d lost contact with you but it didn’t appear they were taking it very seriously.”

“Did SHIELD hang me out to dry?”

“We’ll find out, Clint, I promise you, we’ll find out,” Phil said determined. Then he shook himself and clapped his hands briskly. “Okay, bathroom's over there. Shower and put in the clean clothes I left you in there. We’re not letting Laura and the kids see you like this. You look like shit and smell worse. I don’t know how you can stand yourself right now. Don’t take your time about it. We’re close to wheels down.” Phil stood abruptly and pulled Clint to his feet with him. Quickly pushing him towards the direction of the bathroom area. Once he had the other man behind the closed door he sagged against it. He dropped his face into his hands and rubbed it roughly. Fuck, as if things weren’t complicated enough. Had SHIELD hung Hawkeye out to dry? What the hell was Nick thinking? What the hell was happening at Headquarters? And what the hell was he going to do about his very married Sentinel because not finding a way to achieve a bond between them was unthinkable, the very idea itself made Phil feel as if his soul was being rent from him. No, just no. There had to be a way forward in this situation. A platonic bond was a possibility. Most likely the only possibility. A sexual bond might be the best and strongest bond between a Sentinel and Guide but when that was impossible then one had to accede to what was possible. 

Phil groaned and pushed away from the door. He steeled himself and made himself as mentally and emotionally ready to face Clint’s wife and kids as he could. His long days just seemed to get longer and longer. 

*****

May took off as soon as both Phil and Clint had stepped off the ramp. If Clint hadn’t hustled them out of the way the backwash from the plane would have done some serious damage to them. 

“You think she was in a hurry to leave?” Clint asked innocently. 

“You think it was something we said?” Phil deadpanned back. 

Then they looked away from the retreating jet and back at each other. They shrugged and a snigger escaped Clint. 

“Okay Hawkeye, lets go,” Phil ordered and they set off for the house. 

“Laura’s seen us. She’s waiting on the porch,” Clint said. They were still a few minutes away. Phil could see the house but he couldn’t make out the porch clearly let alone anyone on it. “I can hear the kids playing out back too.”

“Aha,” Phil said, tucking his hands back into his jacket pockets. “Are you ready for this?”

“Me? I'm not the one back from the dead,” Clint told him, throwing an arm over Phil's shoulders, and Phil found himself pulled to a rough side hug. “Don't worry boss, she'll forgive you, eventually.”

“Anyone tell you you're an asshole recently, Hawkeye?”

“Recently? Nah, not in a couple of weeks at least,” Clint told him with a chuckle. 

Then they were at the bottom of the steps, looking up at Laura Barton and all Phillip Coulson could do was swallow and try for a shy half smile. She looked from one man to the other with increasing speed and disbelief. Her mouth open in an ‘O’ shape and the fingers of her left hand fluttering around her bottom lip. Her right hand held the porch railing in a death grip, knuckles white with the strain. All the while tears filled her eyes.

Finally Clint cleared his throat. “Hi honey, we're home,” he said.

His voice seemed to release her from her shock because she was suddenly flinging herself down the stairs and into their arms. She had one arm flung around her husband's neck and the other holding Phil in a close approximation of a strangle hold. But neither man tried to move away from her grip. They just held her as tightly as she was holding them.

“Oh Phillip Coulson, you have so much explaining to do,” she finally rasped out between gasping breaths.

“Oh, is that an understatement,” Phil said back. 

It was Clint which eventually pulled away, kissing his wife's temple softly. “Why don't we head inside? Laura, call the kids in. Let's get that insanity over with,” he grinned manically as he pulled his wife by the hand up the steps and into the house. Phil found himself being pulled right behind Laura. She was laughing as they entered the door.

“Hey kids! Come inside for a minute. I got a surprise for you!” She called out. Two sets of feet could be heard thundering up the back steps. Then the back door opened and slammed shut. Within a second there was squealing and yelling and Clint was suddenly enveloped by two pairs of arms and legs as his children hung off him and he spun them around. Laughing happily as he hugged his children to himself. 

“Look who's here,” he whispered to them eventually as he set them down. Turning their small heads around to look at Phil still standing behind their mother. 

A chorus of Uncle Phil was all the warning Phil got before he was swarmed under by two small bodies as the Barton children threw themselves at Phillip Coulson. He could do nothing but give himself over to the children’s hugs. He clasped them to him. His Guide senses spread over the two boys in his arms. Happiness, excitement and almost overwhelming love flowed all over him. He laughed out loud. Couldn’t help himself. Then he took each boy’s head in hand and kissed their foreheads. “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered, his voice feeling strangled in his throat. 

“Why were you gone for so long Uncle Phil?” Cooper asked. Eyes shining and curious. 

Phil swallowed and silently cursed Nick Fury. “Well you know your daddy and I have kinda weird jobs that mean we have to be gone occasionally? It was something like that,” he told them, forcing himself to keep a genial smile on his face. 

“Aha,” Nathaniel said. Voice and eyes skeptical. 

Phil quirked an eyebrow at the boy, then looked up at Clint who was grinning from ear to ear. “I think your kids are smarter than you,” he told the archer. 

“Yep,” Clint replied proudly. 

Laura laughed at that, she rubbed her hands together then and started making shooing motions at her sons. “Okay you two. Go back outside and play. Your dad and Uncle Phil will still be here later.” In seconds Phil heard the back door slam as the two little hurricanes ran out back again. “Now you two. I’m going to put some coffee on. Then I want answers. And I want the truth.”

Phil followed quietly as Clint led the way to the kitchen table. Clint sat at the head and pushed out the chair on his left with his foot for Phil. Obeying the silent request, Phil took the chair and sat down stiffly. They didn’t speak while they waited for Laura and the coffee. 

In a few minutes a tray with mugs of coffee and a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies sat on the table in front of them and Laura was seated in the chair opposite Phil to Clint’s right. “Talk to me,” she ordered. 

“My hearing has gotten better since that thing with Loki, you know that,” Clint began. 

“Wait,” she said holding up a hand. “Let’s back up a bit. Fury told us you were dead, Phil. Let’s start there.”

“He didn’t outright lie to you. I was more dead than alive. Not completely dead but dead enough. SHIELD had access to some very experimental, illegal and Alien methods. They pretty much used me as a lab rat for months. It left me alive but very screwed up. And altered in certain ways,” Phil told her. “Then when I was strong enough to leave the facility he gave me a team and a new mission and convinced me it would be better for everyone all around if they still believed I was dead. I let myself believe he was right because I couldn’t think straight at the time. Later I didn’t want to know if you’d all forgotten about me. I’m not proud of it at all but I felt quite delicate emotionally for a long time.

“Beyond all of that, when I woke up again I wasn’t the same man I had been. Before I died I’d been a mid range Guide. But when I woke up again I knew I wasn’t midrange anymore. My guide gifts had strengthened, I was powerful and my shields were impenetrable. Something told me to keep my mouth shut about. So I didn’t tell SHIELD. Didn't tell Nick. Restrained myself and my abilities. Tested my strengths and weaknesses where I could. But generally kept it all to myself. And I was fine with that. Then something happened that I never expected to happen and I knew I had to do something about it,” Phil finished and took a swallow of his coffee before looking at Clint to continue. 

“Yeah, so, I, ahh. Well honey you know that mission I was on. I kinda got captured,” Clint quickly took his wife’s hand as her whole body shuddered with fear. “It’s ok. I’m ok. But something happened to me.There are some other things going on as well, but Phil and I will think about how to deal with that later. So you know when we met I told you I was a basically a Dormant Sentinel and that they thought that was because of my hearing?”

Laura nodded. “We've talked about that though recently, after...umm,” her worried gaze flitted between her husband and Phil.

“He knows baby. There's nothing we can hide from Phil.” Clint said.

She nodded. “Okay well ahh, yeah, yeah. After Loki did whatever he did and your hearing was fixed, we've been wondering if your status would change.”

“We don't need to wonder about it anymore babe. After they took me and had some fun with me, something in me flipped on and I came online. Next time I'm tested I'll test as an online Sentinel,” he told her. He held onto her hands tightly. Gaze never leaving her face.

Phil watched them both closely. Saw as her face went pale and the stricken expression that fixed itself there. Then Laura's eyes closed and she pulled in ragged breaths. He could almost hear her counting. Breathe in, one, two, three. Breathe out, one, two, three. Breathe in…  
Phil felt it as her heart broke and she accepted that the future she thought lay in front of her and her family would no longer be.

Phil admired her as he saw her pull herself together, one stricken emotion, one ragged breath, one lost dream at a time. She pulled it all in and glued everything back together, just in a different configuration than before. 

“So, you're going to have to find a Guide soon. It's something you need to be strong and healthy. Hopefully it will be someone that won't mind the kids. I'll move out of coarse. I won't stand in your way. I understand. But the kids. The boys need you. Maybe, maybe-” her voice broke then and all she could do was open and close her mouth silently as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Her pain broke Phil and he was around the table and kneeling in front of her in an instant. He knew he was crying too and could hear noises coming out of his mouth without knowing what he was saying. Then Clint was beside him, crying as well and saying something. Phil felt Laura's fingers in his hair and looked at her than at Clint. She had a hand on both of them as they knelt at her feet. Phil felt calm float over him, her calm. It floated over all three of them and Phil could breathe again. He sat back on his heels and wiped the tears from his face. 

“Clint doesn't need to look for a Guide, Laura. When he came online, I felt him and went after him. I'm Clint's Guide. We haven't Bonded. We didn't want to hurt you anymore than we could help doing. This was never going to be easy. It wasn't something we planned on. If we could have a platonic bond, I'd willingly accept that, we both would. I never really thought I would ever have a Sentinel. As a midrange I never felt the compulsion you know, and even later, I wasn't compelled to have one either. But, Clint, when I felt Clint, and then I found him. I knew he was always meant to be my Sentinel. It hurts to not have a bond with him. Anyway, ahh, I'm not sure what the hell I'm saying here. So what I'm going to do is, I'm going to head out onto the porch and give you some time alone. Yep that's what I'm going to do,” Phil said standing. He squeezed Clint's shoulder then wiped a stray tear from Laura's cheek and with unsteady steps headed out the front door again.

He walked to the porch rail and leant on it heavily. Hands clenched and body tight with stress and emotional pain. He leaned there and tried valiantly to pull himself together. He could feel the pain from the two people behind him. Laura's resignation. Clint's guilt. His own guilt. And the tiny flutter of awe at what could happen next. Phil didn't know what to do, how to proceed. He knew he had to let Clint lead in this. Three lives were about to be thrown into a hurricane here but Clint and Laura were about to have their lives torn apart. So Phil stayed out there on the porch and waited. He didn't keep track of time, just pulled his emotions back under control and check his shields were in order, and waited.

An orange sunset colored the landscape. Phil was enjoying the peace when he heard a car coming their way. Phil squinted at the blue truck making its way to the house. He turned to head inside to let Clint and Laura know when they walked out hand in hand, followed by Cooper and Nathaniel, each boy had a backpack over their shoulder.

“The boys are going to spend the night at a friend’s place,” Laura told him. She hugged her sons before they ran down the steps and into the truck.

“Be good,” Clint called out and then the truck took off again, the two boys waving happily as the woman driving headed back the way she had come.

Laura wrapped her arms around Phil and lay her head on his chest. “That was Mary Sue. The boys are best friends with her boys. Clint and I thought it would be a good idea for the boys to spend the night with them. Now Mr. Phillip J Coulson. I'm putting my husband in your hands and I expect you to keep him safe. So you two get on in that house and do what you need to do. Next time I see you two I expect you to have a fully realised and functioning bond. Now git,” she said, pushing Phil gently away from her. He took a step back, smiling sadly at her. Then another pair of arms were about his chest and he felt Clint behind him. “Yes Mam,” he said. Clint turned him around and Phil followed quietly as the other man pulled him into the house.

Phil followed, paying little notice until he heard a door snick closed behind him. He blinked rapidly and looked around. “Why are we in your bedroom?”

“Because Laura thought I'd feel more comfortable forming a bond with you in my own territory. She probably knows more about this than I do. I think a part of her has been getting ready for me to flip online ever since Loki. I think she's been researching Sentinels and Guides since then, at least as much information as a Mundane can get their hands on. Now I know you said you'd settle for a platonic bond, and I know you meant it. So we'll try it that way first. I'll still need to imprint on you, so, strip please.” Clint leaned back against the door, his hands in his pockets and his face serious, eyes intent.

Phil cleared his throat, suddenly nervous. He felt sweat break out over his body. His hands trembled as he carefully unzipped his jacket. As he slipped it off, his sucked in a breath and held it for a second, letting it calm him down. He could do this. They could do this. So he quickly started on his shirt buttons. This would be no different than showering in the gym showers or a physical.

Yeah, right. Phil believed that until he began undoing his belt and Clint moved. Well not moved, more like flowed. He flowed away from the door and right into Phil's personal space. In a second they were face to face and Phil froze. He couldn't move. His hands were frozen on his belt buckle, suddenly feeling very much the rabbit to the hawk. Then Clint flowed and moved behind him and Phil gasped for breath. He'd never seen Hawkeye so intense. Never been the other man's focus. Now though, all of that intent and focus was on him, and he did not know if he could cope.

A touch at his ankle had him looking down.

“Take your boots off,” Clint ordered, having undone Phil's boots already. Phil accomplished the feat without tipping over, somehow a simple push from Clint had his socks off his feet and his boots too. Phil stood there on the bedroom rug, his bare toes flexing in the pile.

“I don't think I've ever seen you with no shoes on. Most of my memories of you, you're always in that damned suit. You don't wear the suit anymore?” Clint asked, in his ear, having stood back up.

Phil cleared his throat. “On occasion.” He replied.

“Glad Laura and I won't have to give up the suit porn completely then. Laura always thought you wore a suit well,” Clint chuckled, then his hands were swiftly undoing Phil's belt, then pants and all too soon Phil found himself stepping out of his clothes and standing in front of his friend fully nude. He quickly moved his hands to cover himself, but then his wrists were restrained in strong and clever hands, stopping him.

“You can't cover anything from me Phil. I need to know all of you. I need to see, taste, touch, hear, smell and scent everything you are. That's the only way this works.” Clint told him. “We both know this is the Sentinel's premiere and most primal of instincts. The knowing of his Guide us paramount to sanity. I might not be a fully trained Sentinel, but we all went thought Basics way back when.”

“God,” Phil groaned. “I know, I know. It's just there might be some reaction here and I don't want you upset by it.”

Clint laughed wickedly. “I won't be upset by it. I'll be flattered.”

Then he set the work and Phil set his jaw and ground his teeth. He didn't find it upsetting or distasteful, quite to the contrary, he found it way too enjoyable as Clint touched, licked, smelled, listened to and saw every part of him. In some ways Clint was taking Phil apart bit by tiny bit, examining each part, then fitting it back in place with a pleased little sigh. The reaction Phil was worried about popped up, literally and Phil felt the red blush sweep over him. Then he almost had a heart attack when Clint ran a finger tip through his precum and licked it off again. 

Clint's tongue flicked out again almost like it was looking for more, the idea making Phil groan out loud. Then Clint shook himself and looked Phil right in the eye. “Ready,” was all he said. Phil understood and he released his mind. Let his shields out to encompass the man in front of him. Pushed out the tether that, once it found its counterpart would become the full fledged Bond. 

Tethers met and twisted, trying to become one, but instead they skipped right past each other. Try as they did, nothing would make the tethers join.

Clint's eyes were wide in shock. “But, but you're mine. I-I know it,” Clint whispered, then he pushed forward and took Phil's mouth, plundering it eagerly. 

Phil returned the kiss even as his mind kept trying to form the Bond. He finally wrenched his mouth away. “There's something wrong, something missing. I can almost taste it. It's so close. It's like trying to start Lola but losing the ignition key. I need to find the key,” he said and released his Will from his mind to find the key. When he found he jerked at it, pulling it closer. Bringing it to him, to them. When Laura pushed through the bedroom door he understood. She was the missing key to them. He felt his knees give out as he looked at her. Her eyes wide with confusion and worry.

Clint turned around as stunned as his wife and Phil sat down hard on the bed behind him. “Laura?,” Clint asked, his voice worried. “I know this is hard. Are you okay?” 

Laura nodded slowly. “I was in the lounge, when I felt drawn here. I had no intention of interrupting. I'm sorry. I know how important this is. I'll leave.” She made to turn around.

“No. Stop,” Phil spoke out, one hand raised. He looked around and grabbed a pillow off the bed, covering his lap with it. “Sit down both of you. We have an issue. Clint, when you and I tried to Bond it felt not quite right. You know that, right?” He waited for Clint to nod. “Something was missing. At least that's how it felt for me. Like the key was missing.” He watched as Clint nodded again. “So I went looking for the key and when I found it I pulled it to us. I wasn't thinking about it. It was basically just instinct and need. That's when Laura came in.”

Laura ruffled her hair. “Phil I don't understand. A Bond is between a Sentinel and Guide, what's that got to do with me?”

Phil sighed, feeling rather over exposed. “Traditionally yes, but, not necessarily. There is a subsection of Sentinels and Guides that don't have that traditional Bond. They are a Sentinel Adept, and a Guide Legion. They Bond through a Shield. There's actually a Triad in New York. A Sentinel FBI Agent, his wife and his Guide who works as a consultant for the FBI now. He used to be a conman and forger, one of the best actually.”

Clint scratched his chin. “So you think we're like that?”

Phil nodded slowly.

“What does theShield do?” Laura asked.

Phil shrugged. “I don't really know, but, a few months ago some asshole had a whole group of Sentinels and Guides trapped by some type of machine. The Guides were under attack and the Sentinels were useless because of the onslaught of psionic pain that was flowing back and forth between them. The Sentinel sent their Spirit Guides to the wife, she walked in and, according to eye witness accounts, put her hands on the Guide and stopped his pain. The Sentinel then took a sniper's rifle to the machine causing the problem. We can talk to them first if you want.”

“Laura?” Clint asked softly.

“These people in New York. What kind of relationship do they have?” She asked.

“I don't think anyone has asked them, but their Pride treats them equally. She's not a third wheel or a problem. The Pride respects her as much as the Alpha Sentinel and Alpha Guide. Some even call her Alpha Wife. Reports say she’s a little terrifying in the protection of her Sentinel, Guide and Pride. SHIELD believes they have a full Triad, a, ahh, a threesome. I'm not suggesting that but…” Phil trailed off having no more words.

Clint and Laura looked at each other, eyebrows raising and lowering at an alarming rate, having the type of silent conversations married couples have. The types of conversations Phil had never been able to have.

Then Clint cleared throat and stood up. He walked over to his wife and held his hand out to her. She took his hand and stood smiling evilly. Then she wrapped a hand behind her husbands neck and pulled him down for a kiss. Clint met her lips, easily opening her mouth to dip his tongue in and out in a dance they knew well. Phil watched guiltily for a few seconds, then started wondering if he should leave. He choked when Clint opened his eyes and looked at him, then winked. One hand moved slowly over her back to find the zipper, then inch by inch he lowered it until with a shimmy Laura stood there in her bra and knickers.She stepped out of her dress then helped her husband undress himself.

“S-s-so what, ah, how are we…” Phil's voice broke embarrassingly.

Clint took Laura's hand again and led her to the head of the bed. “Well, since I've already imprinted on both of you, we only need to get the Bonding part done. So Laura and I were thinking while I make love to my wife, you should have your wicked way with me. Do you think you can do that?” Clint asked as he lay down on his front beside his wife.

“Yeah, yeah I think I can do that,” Phil said as he moved over the bed to run his tongue up Clint's calf until he could nip at the back of his knee. Clint groaned where he was kissing his wife's belly. Laura giggled.

“Phil,” she called. Phil looked up and saw her hand reaching for him, trying to hand him something. He took it. It was a tube of lube. “You're going to need that. Clint likes a lot of lube but not a lot of prep or foreplay.”

Clint looked back over his shoulder. “Yeah, I like it hard and fast, you know quick, down and dirty,” he said his face sporting a massive grin.

Phil felt his eyebrows reach his receding hairline at that news. “Well I'm not going to say I'm not shocked, yet somehow I'm not that surprised,” Phil said flatly.

Clint chuckled and wiggled his ass a little. Phil abruptly bit into a plump cheek and Clint groaned and arched under him. Laura moaned as his movements did something, something to the hand he had playing between her thighs. 

Clint looked down at his wife and smiled at her. Then he climbed into his knees and carefully worked her knickers down her thighs, he took Phil's hand and put it on the scrap of lace. Phil got the idea and worked the knickers off Laura's legs.

Phil looked at Laura's face, checking to see if she was really all right with this. He spread his gifts over her. The emotions she was feeling were full of happiness and love. Acceptance and excitement, overlaying all of that was pure unadulterated lust. Yeah Laura was fine with all of this. She looked Phil in the eye and crooked a fore finger at him. He leaned over to her and melted into her embrace when she pulled him in and kissed him, deeply and hungrily. Then she released his lips and smiled at him.

“Relax Phil, my husband needs you. He wants and loves you already. I think he probably always has been. So it's not such a leap for me to feel the same way about you. Maybe not to the same extent as Clint, but it won't take long before my feelings for you mirror his I think. After all we've both always had a thing for you in your suits. We call it suit porn actually,” she said.

Phil laughed. “I've heard that term today already. You'll have to explain that to me later.” He said, then shifted a little to help Clint maneuver himself over his wife. He watched Clint slowly and carefully enter his wife's willing body. She moaned and arched under him and Phil's breath caught at the beauty of the scene he was a willing participant in. He leaned forward and kissed Laura's knee, then moved and kissed Clint's shoulder.

Clint shivered. “Don't keep me waiting Phil.”

Phil got with the program and squeezed some lube on his fingers. He used one hand to spread Clint's gorgeous cheeks and circle the pucker there with one wet finger. He dipped in slightly and pulled out again. He repeated the process until one finger went all the way in smoothly. Then he started again using two fingers. In a minute he was using two fingers to set his Sentinel trembling and clenching his teeth for control. Clint was holding himself almost rigid, lodged deeply inside his wife and trying not to fuck her or himself on Phil's fingers until it was time. 

Phil swallowed and spread lube over his cock, then he moved behind and over the other man. “Ah, I should have asked before, but condoms? I'm clean but it's your choice.”

“You're right about your rotten timing. I really think I need skin. No barriers. So no condoms. Anyway I've only ever had sex without one with Laura, and it's not like you can knock me up,” Clint said after another fast eyebrow conversation with his wife. He threw a look at Phil over his shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows.

Phil blinked, having realised that wiggle meant Clint was more than ready for him, in every way. So he bent and dropped kisses along Clint's spine. “Thank you,” he whispered, then carefully lined his cock up and pushed in. He felt and heard Clint groan under him. He slid in with one smooth thrust then he lay over Clint's back trying to take most of the weight on his own knees.

Clint turned his head. “Hey,” he whispered.

Phil turned to him. “Hey back,” he said.

Clint moved his head forward a touch and slowly their lips met in a gentle kiss. Then he moved away again. “Your show,” Clint told him, flashing him a cheeky grin.

Phil grinned back and dropped his arms around Clint and onto the bed, on either side of Laura. He braced himself on hands and knees then pulled out of Clint's channel just enough to be able to push back in. Twin groans greeted his movement and he realised that his thrust in pushed Clint further into his wife. Clint was right, it was his show. Grinning Phil set a fast and solid pace, using the steady increase of pleasured groans and volume to gauge his success. He felt small hands at his hips, then they clenched and Laura's nails dug into him as she arched and gasped. He sped up his pace, gaze locked on her beautiful face as she threw her head back moaning in pleasure, sweat running off her face and into her hair. Then she gasped and a half swallowed scream came out of her open mouth. Clint groaned loudly and buried his face in her neck, they were both trembling under Phil then Clint convulsed around Phil's cock and Phil couldn't stop his own orgasm and as he let go the tethers of the Bond that couldn't attach flowed through Laura and like a missing piece found, the three parts of the Bond wrapped around each other and now locked in place. The Bond flowed into and around them making what was one, two now a three yet one.

Gasping for breath Phil rolled off Clint, chuckling and running his hand down his face. “Ah, well, ah…” was all he could say. He felt someone pull a blanket over him then he was asleep.

*****

‘Coffee, coffee, need coffee.’  
‘Got to go pick up the kids.’  
‘God what a night. I don't think I've ever come that hard. I hope Phil and Clint and willing to do that again.’  
‘Damn didn't think Laura would-Ah what the fuck?’  
‘Why are they talking so loud?’  
‘Huh?’  
‘What?’  
‘Oh God.’

Phil sat up in bed and looked at the other two people in bed with him. He swallowed the pointed at Laura. “Think something,” he ordered.

She blinked at him. ‘Bossy.’

“You thought , Bossy,” he said then pointed at Clint. “Think. something,” he ordered again.

‘Hot.’

“You think that's hot. Hot? ‘Oh fuck I can hear their thoughts.’ Phil groaned and rubbed at his face.

‘We can hear you too, and each other.’ The voice was Clint's and it was his head. He looked up again and saw Clint and Laura grinning at him.

Laura giggled then grabbed the sheet and got out of bed, taking the sheet with her. “Well we can now definitely keep our conversations private. We're going to need that with the boys around. Now I'm going to make some coffee then go get them. We can probably check how much of a range we have while I drive to Mary Sue’s. I'm leaving breakfast up to you two. I don't want to leave the boys with Mary Sue for too long. No one deserves that much stress,” she said walking off into the bathroom.

Clint grinned at Phil and rolled over onto him. “You okay?,” he asked. Then he wiggled just enough that Phil definitely knew there was a naked man laying over his own very naked self.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I'm fine,” he said as his hands wrapped around Clint's hips. Clint smiled down at him and moved until he was astride Phil's hips then he swooped in and kissed him. Phil opened his mouth and Clint took control of the kiss. Nipping and biting lightly until Phil was breathless. He felt Clint slide down onto his hard cock and he moaned. “God, Clint, God, so good, so good.” Phil pushed up into Clint as the other man slid down. Clint settled his hands on Phil’s chest and rode Phil like rodeo bull. Bucking and sliding, hard and fast. Until both of them were coming and shaking apart.

“Well boys that was quite the show,” Laura's voice came from the bedroom door, where she was standing and drinking her coffee, hair wet from her shower. She walked into the room and started pulling out clothes. “Clint, I want a lock on that bedroom door. That was a hell of a show and I'm going to want more of them.” She turned and grinned at them dropped her towel and slipped into her clothes. “Oh I guess we might as well get rid of that strap on. Doesn't look like were going to need it.”

Clint chuckled and finally climbed off Phil. 

Phil finally sat up, a smile on his face. “Don't get rid of it on my account. I'm sure we can find a use for it.”

Laura laughed and left the room. ‘I'm glad we get to keep him, Clint. Good job.’

*****

There was a steady stream of music in Phil's head. Laura was listening to some sort of Country and Western radio station as she drove the half hour or so to pick up the boys. Clint was listening to 80s rock on his iPod as he drove his quad bike heading the other way from Laura. Phil himself was feeding them a steady mental monologue as he fit the privacy lock on the master bedroom door. He smiled, what Laura wants Laura gets, he thought.

‘You'd better believe it,’ she thought back at him.

‘Our Phil learns fast,’ Clint added.

‘Stay safe you two and keep your minds on the road,’ Phil sent back. He heard them laughing in his mind, shook his head and kept going.

*****

“May, once Clint and I get off the plane, I want you to take the plane back up and make sure Laura and the boys are out of SHIELDS initial range,” Phil told her. The plan for today was to tell Nick what was happening. So Phil and his now large family were in his plane, with May and the rest of his team heading to the Helicarrier and Fury. They were about 30 minutes out, and Phil was making sure Laura and the kids would be safe. It wasn't that he didn't trust Nick, but something about Clint's kidnapping still smelt off.

“Come back here!” Skye yelled and Phil turned in time to catch Cooper as he flew at him, carrying Skye's tablet p.c. He caught the boy in mid air, while Clint hooked an arm out and plucked Nathaniel up as he tried to race past his father and hide behind his mother.

Laura huffed and took the tablet p.c out of Cooper’s flailing arms and handed it back to Skye. “I thought I told you two to behave yourselves,” she said sternly, looking at each of her sons.

Phil and Clint set the boys back on their feet and watched as they apologized to their mother and Skye. Laura narrowed her eyes at them then pointed at a booth and watched closely as they shuffled over to it and sat down quietly. Phil shook his head smiling, listening in his mind as Laura and Clint chuckled. Then he thinned his shields a little to see if he could detect the emotional tone of his crew. He gasped as he heard their thoughts too. Skye wondering if her p.c was okay. But giggling inside as she remembered Cooper flying through the air into Phil's arms. He heard as May thought Laura was a woman cut from the same cloth as her, because of the way she could control her boys. She obviously admired her. Then her thought turned to Skye, whose scent profile had changed recently, reminding May of hot melted chocolate and sugar cinnamon cookies. This left May a touch confused and resolutely ignoring it for now.

Phil swallowed, ‘Can you two hear what Skye and May are thinking?’ He asked his Bondmates.

‘Once you started to concentrate on them,’ replied Laura.

‘Nothing before that,’ added Clint.

‘Seems like this ability of ours has more applications than we thought,’ Phil though to them.

“We’re almost there, better get ready,” May’s voice came over the Comms system.

Phil and Clint each kissed one of Laura's cheeks, then ruffled the boys hair before making their way to the ramp. They disembarked almost before the ramp was fully open and May took off again within seconds.

Phil grabbed the nearest agent. “Where's Fury?” he demanded.

The agent narrowed his eyes a touch and Phil on instinct thinned his Shields a tiny bit.

“Director Fury is on the Command Deck,” he said, but beyond that Phil heard ‘Hawkeye is here. I must tell my superiors. HYDRA will be pleased with me.’

Clint went stiff beside him and Phil knew he was sending out his senses, trying to find if they were surrounded by friends or foes.

‘Did I hear that right?’

‘Did I imagine that? Are you two safe? I'm going to have May hang around in case you need help.’ Laura sent.

‘Yeah OK, stay safe though. Clint get me to Fury. I need to concentrate on everyone else here. So far I don't like what I'm hearing. Laura have May ready an emergency extraction. We're outnumbered here, I already know that. Oh God, HYDRA is crawling all over this Carrier and from what I can hear they're into every part of SHIELD and the government. How could we not have seen this’

‘I can hear Fury. Get ready.’ Clint told him.

They entered the Command Deck to Fury’s voice. “Barton, where the hell have you been? Coulson what the fuck are you doing here and with Barton?”

“Private meeting Sir? You too Maria,” Phil said peremptorily, already leading the way into Fury’s secure office. 

Clint secured the door quickly once they were all in.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Phil kept swearing as he paced.

“What the hell Cheese, you don't swear like that,” Fury said confused.

“HYDRA is out there. The only people I can find on this damned boat that aren't HYDRA are Clint and me, you and Maria. There might be more, but i can't quite tell yet,” Phil said almost strangled.

“What?” Maria demanded.

“I got kidnapped a few days ago. Not a bad kidnapping, just some torture and oh some subliminal brainwashing into thinking SHIELD bad and HYDRA good. But then I came on line and that shit didn't work on my Sentinel. Anyway Phil heard me and came to the rescue. We Bonded and now he can hear other people's thoughts. Cool huh. I can hear them through him too. So all caught up with how truly screwed we are? Good,” Clint told them flatly.

“Jesus Christ, how the hell did this happen? Wait, Sitwell too?” Fury demanded. “That son of a bitch. Hill, I got guns in my desk.” He moved to his desk fumbled around and pulled out two state of the art weapons. He handed one to a grim faced Maria Hill. 

She took the weapon and armed it. Then she grabbed her ever present tablet and swiped it open. “If I can get access to the systems, I can crash us into an ocean. I'll drown the damn rats, so to speak.”

“Us too, Hill,” Clint said.

“You got any better ideas?” she demanded acidly.

“Laura does,” Phil said.

“Laura? Your wife, Laura?” Fury demanded.

“Yeah, we'll talk about that later.” Phil said. He looked at Clint. “What do you think?”

“I don't like it but I trust her instincts. If she thinks she can do it, then I think she can.”

“What are you two jabbering about?” Fury asked.

“Laura says you two need to put on some ear plugs. She can protect us but not you as well. May says to put the Carrier on Autopilot. They're going to knock everyone out at once. After that we can secure everyone then land this boat somewhere safe and think this through completely. We don't have time to discuss this now. You two need ear plugs,” Phil told them.

Huffing and glaring with his one good eye, Fury fumbled in his drawers again and handed Maria a set of ear plugs. She eyed them suspiciously. 

“They've never been used,” Fury sounded affronted as he fit a set into his own ears.

Maria sighed and did the same.

‘Ready,’ Phil thought to Laura and he felt as a dome of her protection fell over him. He looked down to see his hand clenched tightly in Clint's. Then they heard an ear piercing wail that was coming closer and closer. 

‘Did you know Laura used to be a singer?’ Clint asked Phil.

‘Explains the voice,’ Phil said. He looked across at Hill and Fury who were looking around blankly and fidgeting, not knowing what was going on. The scream grew and grew until Phil felt it carry an order to sleep through the psionic plain and he knew that anyone that heard that voice would obey the order to sleep and sleep deeply. She pushed her order to sleep through Phil, through his empathy and she practically commandeered his shields to augment it. Turning her intent into an empathic Guide voice.

When they heard the knock on the door Clint went to answer it immediately. Laura walked in wearing a flight suit and an empty parachute harness. She walked right into Clint's arms and held out a hand to Phil who quickly sandwiched her between them.

“Someone wanna tell me what the hell is going on?” Fury demanded, removing the earplugs from his ears.

“You've got a whole heap of people asleep out here, is what's going on,” May said as she walked into the room, holstering her weapon.

Fury huffed and left the room, Hill and the trio following him, while May brought up the rear.

“You about to tell me how you did that, Coulson, any of this?” Fury asked quietly as he looked around them at the people sleeping soundly, many of them snoring.

“It's not that hard to explain Director,” Laura told him smiling. “Clint, Phil and I got Bonded. Phil heard all your traitors and we heard them through him. We didn't know what to do about it until my boys said something that made me think. They were talking about how when ever I told them to go to sleep they always fell asleep. So May had me try it on Fitz and Simmons and they were asleep in a blink. So we figured if we could make everyone on the Carrier listen to me then I could put them to sleep. So that's what we did. Now I think you might need to tie these traitors up before they wake up.

Phil stifled a grin as he saw the great Nick Fury blink his eye furiously as he looked at Laura.

“Well, spank my ass and call me daddy. Hill, we need a shit ton of zip ties over here. Then we need to pump these assholes for information on how far this goes. The, we need to deal with them all quietly. What else did you pick up from their heads?” Fury asked, face screwed up in disgust at the sleepers around them. 

“I'll write a report on everything I picked up from them, Sir,” Phil sighed, rubbing his neck. “Damn it's going to be a long report. You know we only came here to report our Bond and to let you know HYDRA was up to something then get out of here. We did not expect any of this. I'm not even sure where we start.”

“Oh well I can help there. How about you all grab some of these damned ties and start tying people up. It's not even hard. Just grab one wrist, flip the asshole over then grab the other wrist and use this little plastic strip to keep the wrists together. Look I'll even show you,” Maria Hill said acidly, at them waving a zip tie above her head.

Sighing they each headed over to where she had left a whole pile of them. They methodically worked their way from stern to port, top to bottom of the Helicarrier. Tying up everyone they found. Phil knew he'd wait until he felt ready before he delved further into their minds to find out what the hell was going on.

There was something he had picked up before Laura had sent them to sleep. He sat in a chair across from Fury. “What do you know about the Winter Soldier?”

Fury threw his pen down. “Assassin, HYDRA’s premiere assassin. Why?”

“It was in Sitwell's head. The Winter Soldier. They're sending him after you. Soon. He couldn't wait for it to happen, either.” Phil told him.

“Well just means I'll have to go hunting for him first then don't it?” Fury mused.

“No Nick, not you. You're not going to hunt him down. I read their minds. All of them. Sitwell is rather high up in the ranks. High enough to know a few things. Including the real identity of the assassin we know as the Winter Soldier,” Phil told him, gratefully taking the cup of coffee Laura handed him.

“Coulson, I'm reaching the end of my patience. Explain what the motherfucking hell you're talking about now,” Fury snarled.

“Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. United States Army. He's one of ours, Nick. Sgt. Barnes was a Howling Commando. He disappeared on a mission led by Captain Rogers, Captain America, fell off a train. Remember that? Look I can't be sure its the same man, but we do know that HYDRA was working on their own version of the Super Soldier Serum. It's not a long leap to think that maybe they succeeded.

“Clint, Laura and I should go after him. There's a chance we can get to him. From what I could get off Sitwell, it seems like they've kept him pretty much brain washed and conditioned. Kept him hopped up on a cocktail of drugs, subliminal suggestion, hypnosis and I think ice. And I mean the Antarctic ice cold variety not the chemical variety. It's going to take a lot to find him and somehow break him out of it. I'll take May and my team and hunt him down. Bring him in. You know his files say he was, is, a Sentinel. The Guide in me can't let a Sentinel suffer if I can stop it.” Phil's face was serious. His voice was adamant.

“I can't talk you out of this Cheese? The Winter Soldier is a stone cold killer. You've read the files on him. He won't be easy to bring in. Are you sure you want to take Mrs. Hawkeye with you?” Fury questioned quietly.

“You think I'm letting either of them leave me behind? Not a chance Nick,” she said smiling at them all sweetly. “Just for the record, you don't have the greatest history in looking after my boys here. I'll go and look after them. Our only problem is where we can leave our kids while we're gone. Somewhere safe. Any ideas?”

The three men looked at each other then grinned. Nick pulled out his cell phone and swiped it on. He held it in front of him. “Jarvis, I know you're in my phone, get me Stark and get the tower ready. He's going to have company.”


End file.
